Everyone is racing to bolt AI onto their lending process. QAwerk's Konstantin Klyagin says most of them are skipping the boring part that actually matters, and it's going to catch up with them. His argument: an AI agent that can't explain its own decisions isn't a shortcut; it's a liability waiting for a regulator to find it. Read on for what separates the lenders who'll survive scrutiny from those who won't. I remember when the cost to produce a loan was less than $11,000, where it is now. (More detail below.) I remember when LOs weren’t insurance counselors, trying to help clients with affordability struggles not even due to interest rates. Yes, I think that we all remember lots of things while collectively we continue to help thousands of borrowers every day. (Today’s podcast can be found here. This week’s ‘casts are sponsored by JazzX, the first true end-to-end AI platform built for mortgage. From application to close, JazzX is a new operating model that helps you scale growth, boost productivity, and transform how your team performs. Today’s has an interview with Polly’s Brandon Story on differentiators among capital markets technology providers.)
Lender and Broker Software, Products, and Services
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“The hidden opportunity between yes and no. Household debt hit a record $18.8 trillion in Q1 2026, yet pending home sales still climbed 3.2 percent year over year. Buyers are active, even if debt reshapes the path to qualification for many of them. Between the qualified and the declined sits the almost-there borrower, held back by a DTI ratio a few points high or a credit history still filling in. With a complete view of that borrower's financial profile, mortgage lenders can surface responsible routes to approval through debt consolidation, co-buying structures, and flexible decisioning. Our new eBook breaks down where traditional lending models miss these borrowers and how modern mortgage origination technology brings them into range. Download the eBook.”
“Words You Won't Hear from Your AI HELOC Lender: “I am your AE; how can I help you today?” But you’ll hear these words all day long from Symmetry AEs! Symmetry’s service is outstanding and our AEs and Loan Coordinators pick up the phone and work with you through any scenario, pricing, or general question you may have. Please give us a call whenever you have a question or need any assistance! Did you know we can use asset depletion and asset distribution income to help with qualifying? Symmetry has two options to help borrowers qualify using assets as income: First, Asset Depletion = Take 90 percent of net IRA or 401k / 360 and add to income. Borrowers don’t have to take a draw or be of retirement age (and they can take 100 percent of the balance divided by 360 for retirement-age borrowers). Secondly, you can set up a draw on IRA/401k with a three-year continuance. Many investors have assets and these underwriting methods can help make all the difference! For Mortgage Professional Use Only/Not for Distribution to the Public. Symmetry Lending!”
“Get ready for Episode Two of MQMR’s conversation series, Hit the MARC! We are thrilled to welcome Erin Dee, Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at BankSouth Mortgage. Scott Weintraub is sitting down with Erin to tackle all the hot topics from operational excellence to the future of the mortgage industry. With her extensive background and leadership experience, Erin is sure to bring incredible insights to the table. You will not want to miss this engaging discussion. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can tune in the minute this episode drops and catch all our future conversations!”
Affordability pressure doesn't disappear when the loan closes. It comes back later as repurchase risk. Your borrowers are stretched, leaving less room for errors in the file. Truework, a Checkr company, verifies income, employment, and assets before you close, replacing error-prone processes with fast, automated reports pulled directly from sources. Lenders see up to 50 percent cost savings on verifications, with faster turn times and higher accuracy. Learn more.
Chrisman Demo Day is a free perk for all Chrisman Marketplace members. If you're a technology or service provider and haven't joined the Marketplace yet, reach out to Jake Perkins at info@chrismancommentary.com to learn more.
The Chrisman Marketplace is a centralized hub for vendors and service providers across the industry to be viewed by lenders in a very cost-effective manner. We’re adding new providers daily, so check back often to see what’s new. To reserve your place or learn more, contact us at info@chrismancommentary.com.
Webcasts Today Through Friday
Industry vet Sue Melnick (Change Home Mortgage) joins Mortgage Matters today at 11AM PT, sponsored by Lenders One. All things ops!
Credit Committee is today at noon PT. Presented by Equifax, Rich Swerbinsky and Justin Demola have a timely conversation on the forces reshaping credit, underwriting, and mortgage lending.
The Big Picture is noon, PT, tomorrow. Mitch Kider is joined by Athan Zhang of Copperlane and Naren Krishna of Balerion for a conversation on mortgage technology and innovation: how technology is changing the way lenders operate, where new opportunities are emerging, and what the industry should be watching as mortgage continues to evolve.
The Last Word is Friday, August 21 at 10AM PT. Brian Vieaux, Kevin Peranio, Christy Soukhamneut, and Coby Hakalir break down the week's biggest market signals, agency developments, and industry storylines.
Mergers and Acquisitions
In the vendor world, Checkr, Truework’s parent company, announced the acquisition of Truv, a leader in consumer-permissioned income, employment, and asset verification. “By bringing Truework and Truv together on the Checkr platform, we’re building a more comprehensive approach to mortgage verification, giving lenders more ways to verify borrowers quickly and efficiently… You can look forward to high-quality, consumer-permissioned data and document verification to give lenders more ways to verify income, employment, and assets… Nothing changes operationally: your Truework team and your service continue as they are today.”
Tidalwave, an agentic AI platform that automates mortgage origination from application through closing, has added two mortgage industry veterans to its team as the company scales to support some of the largest lenders in the country. Rebecca Frisbie joins as Principal of Mortgage Platform. Rebecca was previously Director of the Encompass Document Platform, and Zac Basile joins as Director of National Sales. Zac’s roots are in business development and account management roles at Oracle. In July Tidalwave processed 26,000 loan applications and is on track to power 4 percent of the mortgage origination by end of the year.
On the lending side of things, Matador Lending, a Houston-based independent brokerage of nearly 50 originators, has merged with GoRascal (co-founded by Scott Valins and David Williams). “We'll keep operating under the Matador Lending name while building out GoRascal's Texas presence, with a goal of $1 billion in annual Texas production. GoRascal is now licensed in all 50 states and funded more than $3.7 billion in 2025, on pace to exceed $5 billion in 2026.”
Lenders Earnings
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s released its Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report. “Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a pre-tax net production profit of $973 on each loan they originated in the second quarter of 2026, compared to a net production profit of $727 per loan in the first quarter of 2026… Average net production profits remained positive for the fifth consecutive quarter, continuing the industry’s turnaround from widespread losses between 2022 and 2024,” said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s VP of Industry Analysis. “
Overall, mortgage companies are managing to stay in the black. Combining both production and servicing operations, roughly 85 percent of the more than 330 mortgage companies in the MBA’s sample posted overall profits. The average pre-tax production profit was 25 basis points (bps) in the second quarter of 2026, compared to profit of 16 bps in the first quarter of 2026. The average quarterly pre-tax production profit, from the second quarter of 2008 to the most recent quarter, is 39 basis points. Total production revenue (fee income, net secondary marketing income, and warehouse spread) decreased to 333 bps in the second quarter, down from 353 bps in the first quarter. On a per-loan basis, production revenues increased to $11,909 per loan in the second quarter, down from $12,626 per loan in the first quarter.
Total loan production expenses (commissions, compensation, occupancy, equipment, and other production expenses and corporate allocations) decreased to 308 basis points in the second quarter of 2026 from 336 basis points in the first quarter. Per-loan costs decreased to $10,936 per loan in the second quarter, down from $11,898 per loan in the first quarter. From the second quarter of 2008 to last quarter, loan production expenses have averaged $7,945 per loan. Servicing net financial income for the second quarter (without annualizing) was $80 per loan serviced, up from $77 per loan serviced in the first quarter.
Capital Markets
Transform the way you manage TBA positions with Agile’s Round Robin and extended competitive offer functionality. Through this update, Agile delivers key operational processes including simultaneous multi-dealer request for quote, automated ‘Round Robin’ netting, along with the elimination of legacy bottlenecks. Agile continues to redefine secondary market technology by delivering the structural efficiency, speed, and visibility modern mortgage desks require. “Round Robin is the latest example of Agile’s commitment to delivering meaningful value to TBA market participants,” said Greg Vacura, President of Agile. “We’re proud to connect mortgage lenders to both their primary and regional broker-dealer counterparts within a Round Robin process.” This latest innovation further positions Agile as essential capital markets infrastructure for the mortgage industry and a leader in operational transparency, risk management, and trade efficiency. Read the press release for more information about Agile’s Round Robin functionality.
Markets are increasingly focused on the long end of the Treasury curve, which fortunately mortgages don’t track, as rising inflation concerns, uncertainty in the Middle East, mounting U.S. government debt and the leverage behind the AI investment boom are all contributing to broader anxiety. The Treasury selloff and bear-steepening of the yield curve that began last Friday remain intact: the 30-year yield reached 5.33 percent yesterday, its highest level since 2007. Strong stock-market performance and AI-related investment continue to support growth and risk appetite.
At the same time, softer July payrolls, retail sales and inflation have reduced expectations for a September Fed hike, although markets still assign roughly a one-in-three probability given the possibility of a significant August inflation rebound and uncertainty over the Fed’s reaction function under Warsh. That tension is keeping the front end of the yield curve supported while leaving the long end vulnerable. Investors appear increasingly comfortable with higher nominal and real yields unless a meaningful deterioration in equities or economic growth forces a reversal, making a future correction increasingly likely even if that reckoning does not appear imminent. Tomorrow’s 30-year TIPS auction represents an important near-term test, the bias remains toward higher long-end yields until demand improves.
July’s housing data showed broad-based weakness, as housing starts plunged 12.4 percent to a 1.24 million annualized pace, with single-family starts declining across every region as higher mortgage rates raised financing costs, while pending home sales also fell a larger-than-expected 2.3 percent. The more encouraging 5 percent increase in building permits, including a 2.5 percent rise in single-family permits, suggests some future supply resilience, but not enough to offset the current slowdown.
Meanwhile, industrial production rose a modest 0.2 percent, indicating continued but subdued manufacturing activity. Falling import and export prices provided a generally favorable inflation signal (particularly the 0.4 percent decline in import prices), pointing to a cooling economy where housing bears much of the pressure from elevated rates.
Today’s economic calendar kicked off with mortgage applications from MBA, which were essentially flat last week, falling 0.4 percent as a modest 2 percent increase in refinancing activity was more than offset by a 2 percent decline in purchase applications, underscoring how elevated mortgage rates continue to keep both refinance and homebuying demand subdued.
Later today brings weekly crude oil inventories, the results of a $16 billion 20-year Treasury bond auction, and minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting. The July FOMC minutes are expected to reinforce that inflation remains the Fed’s primary concern, with policymakers seeking clearer evidence of declining core inflation before ruling out a hike, while the recent CPI and PPI data may have eased pressure for now but August inflation readings will ultimately determine whether the Fed can stay on hold in September. We begin Wednesday with Agency MBS prices a shade better than Tuesday’s close, the 2-year yielding 4.15, and the 10-year yielding 4.69 after closing yesterday at 4.71 percent.
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